Last week’s practices for the ISU gymnastics team sounded like boot camp after hearing coach Amy Pyle describe the grueling week of work.

She told the team to forget about last week’s loss to Bringham Young University and focus on its next opponent, Minnesota.

It worked. The No. 10 Cyclones scored the second-highest all-around score in team history, defeating No. 12 Minnesota, 195.850 to 192.425.

Citing a lack of focus as a primary reason for the BYU loss, Pyle said her team knew it had a week’s worth of hard work ahead, but it didn’t complain. The efforts were rewarded in victory Friday evening.

“The girls knew they had to redeem themselves after last week and basically felt like they let the crowd down, so we talked about it [the mistakes we made], and we moved forward,” Pyle said. “We went to the gym, and we worked hard. They were very sore this week.”

Junior Betsy Hamm shattered the almost three-year old school record in the all-around competition, carding a career high 39.525.

En route to the record, Hamm captured first place on the vault with a career high 9.875, the bars with a 9.875 and the floor, also her fourth consecutive floor victory, with a 9.9. The only event she did not win was the beam, finishing second with a 9.875.

Teammate Kelli More took first with a 9.9.

Hamm attributes her top performance to an increased dedication on every facet of her skills.

“I’ve made a lot of improvements in the last week,” Hamm said. “I’ve been working a lot on landings, and it showed on bars and vault, but I’m still a little bit shaky on floor. I’ve been really concentrating on what I’ve been doing.”

Hamm said not only were the coaches pushing them harder in practice, but the team’s attitude changed dramatically, aided by coaches and senior leadership.

“It was a lot more intense; we got in there and got our stuff done instead of spending too much time on a certain event,” Hamm said. “The coaches were definitely pushing us, but I think the more experienced people were trying to set an example, and if people were tired or sore, the seniors were telling us not to think about it and just do it. It [the seniors’ persistence] makes the rest of us work harder and not worry about what hurts.”

The Cyclones captured every event against the Golden Gophers, with Hamm and More winning the events for the Cyclones.

However, there were career highs and top finishes across the board for the Cyclones.

Sophomore Shelly Kringen placed second on the vault with a 9.825 and senior Sarah Sanderson followed, earning third place with a 9.8. Sanderson also earned second place on the bars with a 9.825 and in the all-around with a 39.025.

Junior Lauren Goldberg placed second on the floor exercise with a career high 9.875, and junior Jessy Smith tied for third on the floor with a 9.850.

The victory was accomplished even without the services of sophomore Sissy Huey, who missed the meet with a foot injury.

Pyle said in Huey’s absence the squad stepped up and pushed each other to do better.

“They did a great job stepping up without her in the lineup because she’s one of our top gymnasts in every event,” Pyle said. “You’re missing a lot when she’s not in the lineup because she’s such a competitor. You have to have your teammates pushing you, and in the past, we haven’t had people pushing you in practice or at the meet…but now they have to fight for a spot out there.”

Pyle said Huey will have a bone scan read by doctors on Monday to see what the extent of her foot injury is.

In spite of not being able to compete, Huey was still thrilled with the win and wishes she could have been out there.

“They did so awesome tonight and I knew they could do that,” Huey said. “I just wish I could have been back out there with them and hopefully I will soon.”

Just one week ago, the Cyclones suffered a rash of falls in their loss to BYU.

One of those afflicted with the fall bug was More, who like her teammates, said she kept focused on what she needed to do on the beam this week and captured the event.

“I had to block out what happened last week and just do it like I do it in practice,” More said. “I just wanted to do what I knew how to do, and it worked.”

With a 2-2 overall record (1-1 in the conference), the Cyclones will face the Iowa Hawkeyes this Thursday at 7pm at Hilton Coliseum.

As they move on with their season, Pyle said that this victory was very important for her team and can be used as a building block for future success.

“This was a big meet for us and they needed it as a confidence builder,” Pyle said. “From top to bottom…we didn’t count one fall, and then Betsy shattered the all-around record. Our focus was to go out and not count any falls, get a good score and walk about of the gym feeling good about our performance; we definitely achieved it.”